Hoddy O’Springs arrived in the Spa City a few days ago and found himself quickly immersed in all the hype and zaniness leading up to Tuesday’s First Ever 12th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“Hoddy’s cousin, Lucky the Leprechaun, was here last year to check it out,” said Mary Neilson, special events coordinator for Visit Hot Springs, the city’s convention and tourism bureau. “Hoddy has come here this year and is here to stay as a permanent addition to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade event. He’s a big leprechaun for our little parade.”
Hoddy was formally introduced to the public at a mascot meet-and-greet March 4, when his name was announced by parade organizers. Chrissy Egleston, marketing director for Visit Hot Springs, said an online poll to name the new mascot was conducted, with Hoddy O’Springs being one of the three final choices; the other two choices were Shamus McPaddy and Paddy O’Bridges.
Neilson said Hoddy was welcomed by several other mascots in the city, including Lake Hamilton High School’s Wolf; the Hot Springs High School Trojan; the Cutter Morning Star Eagle; the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts’ Dolphin; the Lakeside Ram; and Polly the Purple Cow from the Purple Cow Restaurant.
Hoddy O’Springs will be on hand for all of this year’s parade festivities on Tuesday, including the Romancing the Stone Kissing Contest at the
Arkansas Blarney Stone in front of the Hot Springs Convention Center. He’s already been seen practicing for this event, which gives cash awards for the most creative “romancing the stone” competitors.
Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said there is a new twist — or maybe “turn” is the better word — to this year’s parade.
The route of the parade — along Bridge Street, which, at 98 feet long, was named by Ripley’s Believe It or Not as the world’s shortest street in everyday use and verified each year by representatives of The Guinness Book of World Records — is being reversed. Arrison said this is being done to honor NASCAR legend and Arkansas native Mark Martin, who will be the parade’s celebrity grand marshal.
Arrison said one of the oldest bits of humor about being a NASCAR driver is that “you just keep steering left” to negotiate the huge oval tracks on which the car-racing events are held.
“We’re going to reverse the route so that Mark’s official grand marshal car will only have to keep turning left,” Arrison said.
“The actual parade route itself will still be only 98 feet long — the length of Bridge Street,” Arrison said. “But the approach and exit from the official route will be opposite from years past.”
Arrison said the parade approach route, which normally turns east off Central Avenue onto Bridge Street, will instead turn west off Broadway onto Bridge Street, then exit south onto Central Avenue.
“Nothing will change for the 30,006 fans, except they’ll have to turn their heads in the opposite direction to catch all the zany fun,” Arrison said. “We realize that a few of our revelers may have a hard time learning this new procedure for viewing the parade, and we have considered printing instruction sheets to show them how to look the opposite way from years past.
“We are the first ever St. Patrick’s Day Parade to completely reverse its route to honor the grand marshal. That is testimony to the high regard in which we hold this Arkansas legend.”
Martin’s No. 01 U.S. Army race car will be on display for the public for two days as part of the festivities surrounding the parade.
“We anticipate a huge group of his fans will be interested in seeing him and the car that played such a prominent part in his legendary NASCAR career,” Arrison said. “To accommodate these fans, Mark’s car will be on display on the lawn of the Hot Springs Convention Center on Monday from noon until 7 p.m. and on St. Patrick’s Day, Tuesday, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.”
The Swon Brothers, a country-music duo from Muskogee, Oklahoma, will be the official starters for the parade, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. The measuring of the parade route will be done at 6:25.
The Swon Brothers will also perform the free post-parade concert at 7:45 p.m. on the Bridge Street Stage.
Pre-parade festivities will begin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday with the Romancing the Stone Kissing Contest, followed by entertainment at 5:30.
Neilson said that among the new entertainers at this year’s parade will be the Toad Suck Queens from Conway, hula-hoop artist Katie Sunshine, also of Conway, and an Irish tap-dancing troupe from Hot Springs Middle School. Four members of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders will make a return visit to the parade. Arrison said the parade usually includes about 40 marching units, floats, dancers, singers, performance artists, the International Order of the Marching Elvi (50 green-clad Elvis impersonators), marching Irish wolfhounds and assorted “crazies.”
Neilson said Hoddy O’Springs is looking forward to his first parade.
“It’s going to be a great parade,” she said. “We’re expecting a big crowd. It’s spring break for schools in Texas and Oklahoma, so we hope to have a lot of out-of-town visitors. And the Mid-America Science Museum has just reopened, so that should bring people to town as well.”
When asked about how many visitors usually attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and activities, Neilson paused, and said with a smile, “We always announce the attendance ahead of time. I think it’s 30,006 this year. It’s all for fun.”
On a more-serious note, parade organizers always hold a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the late John King, a two-time Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who died while being treated at the Army and Navy General Hospital in Hot Springs and is buried in the Calvary Cemetery. That ceremony, which precedes the St. Patrick’s Day celebration, was held Wednesday.
For more information on the First Ever 12th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, call (501) 321-2027 or visit www.shorteststpats.com.